Shin Megami Tensei: Strange Journey

Shin Megami Tensei: Strange Journey (2009)

by Atlus, Lancarse, Atlus USA
Genres:Role-playing (RPG), Adventure
Themes:Science fiction
Game modes:Single player
Story:In the near future, a mysterious, growing, black void appears at the Earth's southern pole. Unable to determine its cause and powerless to stop its deadly encroachment, humanity sends an elite team of explorers into the heart of the phenomenon, just as Strange Journey's look and feel represent a return to the heart of Shin Megami Tensei, bringing to mind the all-time classic Nocturne. With over 300 demons to bribe, coerce, and negotiate with to gain assistance in battle, Strange Journey is every bit the deep, rewarding RPG experience fans have come to expect from the SMT franchise, yet delivered with a fresh new sci-fi story that taps into mature themes of morality and introspection.Show more
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Stories about this game (4)
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user avatar@GH2MIuser avatar@GH2MI
March 23, 2025
The most striking of the DS SMT games ATLUS made, Strange Journey really lives up to its name. It's a really neat futuristic return to the classic SMT dungeon-crawling formula made primarily by the Etrian Odyssey team, and with those games making a fantastic return to PC recently, I'd like to see this one come back as well.
user avatar@Scabzillauser avatar@Scabzilla
April 27, 2025
SMT Strange Journey holds such a special spot in my heart. Marrying elements of early SMT games with more recent ones to create a dungeon-crawling experience of epic proportions. Thankfully, it's one of those DS games that doesn't use the touchscreen, so it would be perfect for a modern re-release. While the Redux version on 3DS adds lots of QOL changes and makes the game prettier, the original game still feels great to play, sounds great, and the story is still amazing.
One of the best dungeon crawlers of all time paired with the typical demon(pet basically) fusing of SMT series and the general dark over the top atmosphere the series got. For me its the game that made me a fan of SMT series. Its also a pity there hasnt been a PC version yet
This game is genuinely torture. Agony, even. The amount of warp tiles unnecessarily sprinkled into the maps just make me claw my scalp. I definitely have mental stretch marks. Lets be honest, warp tiles are not good game design. All they do is delay meaningful progression because you weren't lucky or you had bad RNG which is something at least SMT 1 was merciful with (we don't talk about SMT 2/10's backtracking). To anybody who hasn't played the game, it may sound like I hate it. Maybe on some level every SJ fan hates the process of actually playing SJ. This game is actually as difficult as people mistake all of Megami Tensei to be. You can't really cheese the gameplay with busted fusions that carry you for 10 hours like in other games. Your demons will quickly become obsolete after 2/3rds of a dungeon/map and the main character is extremely difficult to create a decent build of without just looking up recommendations. This game has the best story (moment to moment experience) and plot (broad stroke summary) of any mainline Megami Tensei. Its familiar enough to include all the familiar tropes of the past titles while still being original with its multicultural cast and unique setting (and demon co-op combat I guess though nobody cares about that). I don't even wanna THINK about touching this game again but Strange Journey needs to be preserved.
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